Articles - April 2006 en-us http://www.thescizone.com/news N/A http://www.thescizone.com/news michael@thescizone.com 20 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/671/1/Stem-Cell-Technology-Gives-Hope-in-Spinal-Cord-Injuries/Page-1.html  Recent research using stem-cell technology in rats with spinal-cord injuries has allowed them to walk again within two weeks. The results of the study show promise for people with traumatic spinal-cord injuries. According to lead author Dr. Stephen Davies, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston the rats were given immature immune system support cells called astrocytes and this resulted in a 40-percent rise in nerve-fiber growth at the site of the injury in only eight days.  The results of the research is published in the April 26 in the open-access Journal of Biology. The Christopher Reeve Foundation has partly funded this research. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Fri, 28 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/669/1/Adult-stem-cell-surgery-may-have-teen-walking-again/Page-1.html WAVERLY, Ill. (BP)-Jacki Rabon was riding with some friends in the back of an SUV in August 2003 when she was thrown out of the vehicle as it veered off the road. She skidded a few feet and landed near a ditch, and her life was suddenly changed. "Right away, I knew I couldn't feel my legs because I couldn't get up," Rabon, 18, told Baptist Press. "I went to sit up and then my back hurt too bad to sit up, so I knew something was wrong." She was rushed to one hospital and then another, where she underwent emergency surgery to repair the damage. Her mother had to break the news to Rabon that she was paralyzed. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/668/1/Stem-cell-tech-improves-spinal-cord-injury/Page-1.html A new stem-cell technology has allowed rats with spinal-cord injuries to walk again within two weeks, an advance that could one day help people with traumatic spinal-cord injuries. The rats that were given immature immune system support cells, or astrocytes, experienced a 40-percent rise in nerve-fiber growth at the site of the injury in just eight days. 'This is the first time an astrocyte has been generated in tissue culture and shown significant recovery of function,' said lead author Dr. Stephen Davies, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/667/1/Spinal-Cord-Injury-Repaired-By-New-Type-of-Stem-Cells/Page-1.html New Type of Cells Repair Injuries Researchers have found that transplanting a certain type of immature support cell from the central nervous system could regenerate more than 60% of the nerves that are damaged after a spinal cord injury.  Amazingly, two thirds of the nerve fibers grew all the way through the injury sites eight days later. This is more promising than previous research, according to the University of Rochester researchers in New York.  Rats that received the cell transplants also walked normally after two weeks.  michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/666/1/Purdue-researchers-work-on-drug-to-relieve-spinal-cord-injuries/Page-1.html Purdue University researchers are working to develop a drug that could reverse some spinal cord injuries as well as other neurological traumas. Richard Borgens, founder of the Center for Paralysis Research and a leader of the team, said the team got the idea for the new drug after discovering that a blood pressure medication called hydralazine can act as an antidote to acrolein, a poison that damaged nerve cells release to destroy themselves. Borgens, professor of applied neurology, said hydralazine itself cannot be used to treat spinal cord injuries because it lowers blood pressure. "You could give it, but you'd have to use accessory drugs to get blood pressure up," he said. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/663/1/Bladder-Management-Age-Tied-To-Urinary-Stones-In-Men-With-Spinal-Injury/Page-1.html NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A variety of factors, including age at injury and type of bladder drainage, appear to influence the risk of urinary stone formation in men with spinal cord injury, Korean researchers report in the April issue of the British Journal of Urology International. Dr. Hong B. Shim of Seoul Veterans Hospital and colleagues note that recent medical advances have greatly increased survival in such patients. However, they are prone to urological complications, particularly stone formation. To help characterize underlying factors, the researchers retrospectively examined data on 140 men who were injured before 1987. Over 17 years, 39 patients (28%) developed bladder stones and 21 (15%) developed renal stones. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/672/1/Teens-injury-mirrors-Reeves/Page-1.html Although his spinal cord injury is similar to that of Christopher Reeve, Ben Trockman has shown "phenomenal" strength, courage and attitude, his father said. Trockman, 17, of Evansville, suffered a broken neck March 19 during a motorcycle crash in Poole, Ky. He now is in the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic-care rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta.  Trockman has been diagnosed with a "complete spinal cord injury," which means he has no sensation or function from the neck down - with the exception of his shoulders, where he has regained some movement, said his father, Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman. Ben Trockman was injured at the same level of the neck as was Reeve, the actor paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident who became an advocate for spinal-cord injury research. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/670/1/Paralysis-Cure-Worth-Waiting-For/Page-1.html Every time I turn around I seem to read about some paralyzed person who's traveled to a far-flung country for a miracle treatment not available in the United States. "I can now wiggle a toe! I'm improving!" they exclaim. Meanwhile, I stay put in my wheelchair, albeit restlessly, in Charleston. Having been paralyzed from the shoulders down since suffering a C3 contusion injury to my neck in 1996, you might ask what the heck I'm waiting for. Am I a masochist? Possibly. But have you ever read a follow-up story about long-term functional gains achieved by one of these treatments? If none come to mind, it's not because you have a bad memory. A recent article in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair offers a sobering explanation. The study examined the results of seven surgeries performed by Hongyun Huang, a doctor in Beijing who treats spinal cord injury patients with cells taken from the olfactory bulb (found inside the nose) of aborted fetuses. Previous anecdotal reports from some of the 600 patients that Dr. Hongyun Huang says he's treated were positive, but had a twinge of irrational exuberance. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/661/1/Spinal-Cord-Cures-in-China/Page-1.html China could provide a new network to safely test therapies for paralyzed patients. A growing number of patients are heading to China for experimental therapies, such as cell transplants to treat spinal cord injuries and other diseases. But scientists in the field harshly criticize the trend, saying these therapies are costly, unproven, and potentially unsafe "The Problematical Dr. Huang Hongyun,". Now Wise Young, an internationally recognized expert in spinal cord injury, aims to address some of the problems associated with humans tests involving experimental therapies. He is spearheading a new project to conduct rigorous clinical trials in China and has set up a network of Chinese hospitals to test new treatments for spinal cord injury. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/659/1/Stem-cell-implant-is-outside-mainstream/Page-1.html SOUTH BEND -- In his quest to help victims of spinal cord injury, Dr. Steven Hinderer admits he's ventured outside the comfort zone of conventional wisdom and standard practice.Hinderer, medical director of the Center for Spinal Cord Injury of the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, in Detroit, has developed an intense program of rehabilitation that goes far beyond the normal scope, both in the exertion it requires of patients and in its basic goals. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400